Players Are Still Doing Amazing Stuff In Dark Souls III

Released just shy of two years ago, people have committed no shortage of amazing feats in Dark Souls III. Recently though, two players have hit new heights showing just how far top-tier Souls play has come.

First there was Squillakilla’s zero damage, all bosses plus DLC run he accomplished this weekend. The streamer has been doing amazing stuff in Dark Souls III ever since the game released. Almost a year ago he did a no hits run of the game including DLC. He’s also done level 1 runs that take forever but during which he snatches victory from the jaws of every boss unscathed. This recent run is a world’s first for beating everything in the game without taking any damage at all. The quintessential “no-hit” run of Dark Souls III allows for environmental damage. It can even help since being hurt can activate certain abilities, like the Red Tearstone Ring buff which lets players deal more damage when their health is below a certain threshold.

Squillakilla’s most recent run, however, required beating the game flawlessly, meaning no attacks or staggers, or environmental damage. From there he had to rely solely on skill and muscle memory to complete the challenger, with everything from glitches to skips and savequits out of the question. By the time he gets to the Curse-Rotted Greatwood he said his heart was pounding painfully hard. “My chest hurts right now. Fucking story of my life,” he said toward the end of the stream. “That’s insane, I did not go in and just expect to get this.”

The whole thing took him close to four hours to accomplish, which you can watch in its entirety below.

Then there’s Nemz38 who just a few days ago became Dark Souls III’s unequivocally best speedrunner. How did he do that? Nemz38 has held the first place world records in the game’s three main speedrunning categories for some time now. His Any% time is 35:09 while his All Bosses run sits at 1:21:12, both of which have stood for over a month now. His Any5 No TearDrop run stands at 42:09, tied by fellow speedrunner Horstz. But then there are all of the less well known miscellaneous categories, including Any% Current Patch, All Bosses, No Major Skips, Boss Rush Mod, and All Achievements. The last of those, for instance, was also set a month ago and sits at just under 13 hours.

However, he made history this weekend for finally taking first-place in the game’s only other semi-major speedrunning category at the moment: SL1 All Bosses. This category involves beating all of the game’s bosses, including DLC, without levelling up at all. He managed to do that with a time of 1:36:46, beating the previous best by almost 30 seconds. “I don’t fucking care that that could have been a lot better,” he said afterwards. “I died and I still came back and did it.”

Of course, he has eight different world records to defend now. While he might have solidified his legendary status within the community, there are plenty of other amazing players who continue to push the limits of what’s possible in Dark Souls III day-in and day-out. At this point though it shows just how far the game’s best players have come and how they continue to find new challenges to help set them apart despite how optimised the game has already become.